Scrap Farm Bills, Guarantee Minimum Support Price: Rahul Gandhi To Centre

Stepping up its attack on the Centre over the farm bills passed by Parliament, the Congress Saturday ran a social media campaign -- Speak up for farmers -- with Rahul Gandhi demanding the government withdraw the proposed legislations and give a guarantee on MSP.

The three bills were passed by both houses of Parliament during the Monsoon Session and are awaiting presidential assent.

In a video message as part of the Congress'' ''Speak up for farmers'' campaign, Mr Gandhi told farmers they were being persistently "attacked".

"First demonetisation, then GST, then you were not given a single rupee at the time of coronavirus, attempt was being made to kill you (farmers), you are being made a slave of corporates, and now these three deadly Bills," Mr Gandhi said in his video message.

These bills are aimed at finishing off farmers and hurt them, he alleged.

"We are standing with you (farmers) and together we will stop these Bills," Mr Gandhi said.

"I want to say to the government -- you have made a very big mistake. If farmers hit the streets, it will result in tremendous damage. Don't waste time, withdraw these laws immediately and give guarantee on MSP (minimum support price) to farmers," the former Congress chief said.

As part of the Congress' ''Speak up for farmers'' campaign on social media, several party leaders such as Priyanka Gandhi, K C Venugopal, P Chidambaram, Ahmed Patel, Salman Khurshid, Tariq Anwar, Sachin Pilot and Shashi Tharoor, posted videos expressing support for farmers and calling for the withdrawal of the bills.

The video messages of various Congress leaders were posted on the party's official Twitter handle with a hashtag ''SpeakUpForFarmers''.

Farmers from all over the country are unitedly raising their voices against the new agricultural bills, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said in a tweet in Hindi.

"No provision of MSP in the bills, contract farming and mandi system being ended is like hitting the hard work of the farmers with an axe," she said.

"Today, the whole of India is united against this injustice," Priyanka Gandhi said.